so there dakota stark found herself, fallen underneath a giant block of wall. she was trapped, and her dwelling had been blown up for the umpteenth time. her leg was mostly underneath the building, her foot sticking out one end, her torso getting cut into.

wincing in pain, she tried to slide out from underneath, to no avail. she was stuck. pushing the rock wouldn't work; she didn't have enough bare strength for that. she had dematerialized her suit before the bullets hit, and she hadn't had time to put it on. so, she was now completely defenseless and only wearing her skin-tight s.h.i.e.l.d. suit.

"guys." she said on the intercom, gritting her teeth. "i'm out by the lake.. my leg is stuck and i can't move." tears stained her eyes from the searing pain in her leg. before long, steve appeared in front of her.

dakota could barely see him because of the angle, but she could hear his voice. "hey there kiddo. i got you." steve muttered, hating the sound of the girl's whimpers as he moved the block covering her leg.

the girl scrambled out from underneath, thanking steve quietly. kodie leaned slightly on his arm for support as he helped her up to her feet. she then hopped about on her leg, still supported by steve, the pressure of the ground being too much for her to step.

a tap of her finger on her watch caused a suit of iron started to form around dakota. with the armor on, she could finally rest her foot on the ground. the teen walked with steve to where her father, hazel, and thor were. tony stark looked over to his daughter, relief flooding his eyes at the sight of her okay. the wordless exchange meant the world to the both of them.

after looking to her father, dakota finally took a look at her surroundings. at the ruins.

there thanos sat, in the middle of it all, his face expressionless. he didn't have any of his infinity stones, and he didn't make any moves to attack. he seemed so vulnerable. so easy to attack.

but it wasn't so simple. it never was.

"what's he been doing?" dakota asked.

"absolutely nothing." thor responded, looking out at thanos.

"where are the stones?" steve asked.

tony shrugged. "somewhere under all this. all i know is he doesn't have them."

hazel nodded. "so we keep it that way."

dakota looked to her. "you know it's a trap, right?" she asked, looking between her friend and her father.

tony tilted his head. "yeah. and i don't much care."

"i can't help but care a little." kodie disagreed.

"i'm with anthony." thor replied. thunder cracked above him as he stretched out his hands, summoning both stormbreaker and mjolnir. his clothes transformed into his armor, his beard braiding itself. "let's kill him properly this time."

kodie looked over at the god in confusion. "seriously? he gets a makeover?"

the group all made their way to thanos, who was the thanos from 2014. he had been brought back by 2014 nebula, who had captured the actual nebula. it all made complete and total sense.

"you could not live with your own failure." thanos told the quad. "and where did that bring you? back to me. i thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. but you've shown me that's impossible. and as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. they will resist."

tony nodded his agreement. "yep. we're all kinds of stubborn."

thanos turned to him. "i'm thankful. because now, i know what i must do." he stood up. "i will shred this universe down to its last atom." he said, putting on his helmet. "and then– with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. teeming with life, but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. a grateful universe."

"born out of blood." steve said solemnly.

"they'll never know it." thanos said. "because you won't be alive to tell them."

"okay, thor." tony said. "hit me." thor banged his two hammers together, watching as tony's suit sucked up the energy, shooting it back out at thanos. he twirled his blade, diverting the energy. thor grabbed stormbreaker, using it to bat mjolnir into thanos. the titan picked up dakota as a human shield, resulting in damage to her system.

"holy fuck." dakota mumbled from the ground. she could hear her father yelling for her, but she didn't have the energy or the strength to reply. she slowly sat up, watching as her father got slam dunked to the ground.

when she looked over to thanos, who was using stormbreaker to push into thor, her eyes were drawn to his hammer. it lifted off of the ground, before zooming past both thanos and thor, flinging into the hands of steve, who effortlessly held it.

dakota recalled when the avengers had all attempted to lift the hammer, and steve had barely touched it before it moved slightly. "dad owes me fifteen bucks." she said to herself, watching in awe.

"i knew it!" thor yelled, a smile on his face.

"my dad is worthy!" hazel said. "hell yeah!"

hazel's happiness was short lived when thanos lifted her from the air, tossing her as if she weighed nothing. dakota yelled out, wincing as she attempted to crawl towards her friend.

thanos turned to steve, who was now wielding both his shield and mjolnir. he charged at the titan, hitting him in the face with the hammer before throwing his shield at him. thanos deflected the shield, only for steve to put the hammer on it, creating a shockwave that knocked thanos off of his feet.

steve began to alternate from throwing his shield and mjolnir, hitting thanos in the face multiple times. the titan eventually got the upper hand, removing his helmet and stabbing steve in the leg. he knocked mjolnir from his hands, destroying his shield with his double-bladed sword. once his defense had been removed, he threw steve across the battlefield.

dakota struggled to her feet, looking over as steve did the same, tightening the strap on his shield.

"in all my years of conquest–," thanos said to steve, "violence– slaughter– it was never personal. but i'll tell you now– what i'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet–" he trailed off, a smile forming on his face. "i'm gonna enjoy it. very, very much."

his entire army was then summoned around him. dakota looked up at the chitauri, remembering them from new york. as she looked around, she recognized the children of thanos, the sakaarans, the outriders, and the chitauri gorillas. carefully, she stood, walking over to steve, who was holding his broken shield. the two stood by themselves against his army.

i'm going to die was all dakota thought as she nodded at steve, who looked concerned for her. she had always known that her life would come down to something stupid. but, this, she thought, wasn't stupid. dying for the sake of bringing back the rest of the world had to be something admirable, right?

as she and steve prepared for their inevitable end, they heard a cracking on their monitors.

"hey, cap, you read me?" sam wilson said. dakota and steve both looked around them. confused. "cap, it's sam. can you hear me?" he repeated. a yellow portal began to form behind them. "on your left."